Scot Loeffler Monday Press Conference Transcript (UCLA Game)

Aug. 29, 2022
Weekly Press Conference
Doyt L. Perry Stadium (Bowling Green, Ohio)

Head Coach Scot Loeffler

Opening Statement: Good afternoon. Welcome. Good to see all your faces. Missed you guys, of course, I’m happy to announce our captains, Karl Brooks and Walt Haire on defense, and Matt McDonald on offense. I think the team did a great job of picking three excellent captains, all of which do it the right way on and off the field. Do it well in the classroom and are really good players, so really happy for those guys to be a part of the leadership team.
And then also excited about our leadership council. We had two guys from each position that were nominated, super excited about that group in general. This is a player-driven team right now. I think they've been doing all the right things that we've been talking about and it's exciting to sit up here and get college football started.

QUESTION: Looking at the depth chart, are three of the five offensive linemen are going to be guys at the transferred in. How will they all fit in and how important was that to you to make sure you went and solidified that position this offseason?
LOEFFLER: Very important and all those guys are gonna play. Guys that played last year are gonna have a vital role in this offensive line. But it was really important. We had a bunch of freshmen out there last year and sophomores that needed to actually have another year in the weight room. This gives us the opportunity to redshirt some and get them stronger. And we knew that for the longevity of this program we needed to do this, and we needed to also not go down the transfer portal last year so we could have some depth, build our lines for the future. So, this was imperative to our team, not only for this year but also for longevity.

QUESTION: Terion put out the announcement last night that he’s not playing this year. Can you just touch on his situation a little bit?
LOEFFLER: I love Terion. But it's my responsibility as his coach and it's the University’s responsibility to protect his privacy, and we're going to do that. And I'm not gonna comment on Terion anymore in terms of that situation. The team was explained the situation internally now and that's gonna be an in-house matter the rest of the year.

QUESTION: How comfortable are you with the rest of the depth at that position?
LOEFFLER: We're fortunate. The one area that that we thought that we were had a lot of really good players was the running back position and we're excited about these guys. What we're gonna do is a little bit of running back by committee. They all have different styles, but we're excited about all of them.

QUESTION: You can appreciate the Rose Bowl as much as anybody. How would you kind of explain to your players what this experience is going to be like and how fortunate they are to be able to play in a venue like that?
LOEFFLER: It gives me goosebumps. When you were making those comments, the hair stands up on your neck and your arms. It’s an unbelievable venue. Always has been, always will be. I think it's my favorite bowl game, hands down. Whenever all the kids that were my age or your age, Jordan, we were playing football on a New Year's Day, imagining that we were gonna be in the Rose Bowl. And that is one special game. And I think our kids are gonna have a great, great opportunity to play a very good football team in unbelievable venue.

QUESTION: What kind of challenge does Dorian Thompson-Robinson present for your defense?
LOEFFLER: He’s excellent in every aspect of the word. Dangerous as all get out and we've said it from the beginning. They are two guys that we definitely have to tackle really well, that’s the running back and the quarterback. They’re exceptional.

QUESTION: How do you keep that environment from kind of overtaking the team and them not hitting the ground running the first kick?
LOEFFLER: I was more concerned about that in all actuality last year and our Notre Dame experience, just because of the amount of youth. Last year in particular, opening up against Tennessee with all 18- and 19-year-old kids. I think this team is much more mature. I don't think a stadium or a crowd or what not is gonna phase them one bit whatsoever. They've been there, they've done it, and we just need to go out there and worry about the important things, worry about what we can control, and play our tails off.

QUESTION: What's the feeling like this year compared to the previous couple years about where the roster is in terms of just being competitive?
LOEFFLER: That's a great question, Jordan. These first three years here, it was hard sitting up here and hard standing in front of the team, in all actuality, and in your mind going, ‘OK, we don't have enough guys to be super competitive’ and that's been challenging. Year one was challenging, COVID year was a disaster, and last year we felt that we had some really good character guys that were young, but we were just too young to win. Are we completely where we wanna be as the team at Bowling Green? No. But we are so much closer and I think we could have a very competitive team in the Mid-American Conference this year. We gotta stay healthy.

We gotta do our jobs. We gotta stay within the framework of the offense, defense, special teams, and I think we're gonna have a chance to be a competitive football team. And that's the first time that I can stand up here and look you in the eye and go, ‘Yeah, we got a chance.’ And is that a guarantee? Absolutely not. I think the addition of the transfer portal made this thing possible this year. Whenever you really look at it realistically, with just high school kids, I don't know if we were to be ready and be in the situation that we are now. We were very fortunate to do well in the transfer portal. We've got good character guys and guys that can play. It's gonna help our team for sure.

QUESTION: Where should the fans expect to see the biggest difference in this team versus last year's team?
LOEFFLER: Well, I hope to goodness we can see us finish games. We had opportunities last year with the youngest team in America to win seven games. If you really looked at it, we let games slide right out of our hands and a major cause of that was age and what we were doing during the week. We would have an unbelievable Tuesday, we'd have the worst Wednesday practice you've ever seen. We're inconsistent, so we could beat anyone in the country. Then we could lose to anyone in the country. And that was evident. The thing that we wanna see here is consistency and being able to finish games. Being able to make those two or three plays that we didn't make last year to put ourselves in position to win the game.

QUESTION: How do you think you’ve matured as a coach this offseason compared to previous seasons?
LOEFFLER: Much better, hands down. Whenever you're rebuilding and guys are in and out of the program, I wasn't a lot of fun, to be quite honest with you. Our first two years here, our players laugh about it all the time. The guys that have made it through my tenure here, we laugh. I'm probably a totally different person than I than I was then and now I'm back to being super positive, upbeat. I'll still address problems and still stern in addressing problems, but there was nothing fun about the first two years at all. Nothing. Zero. And I hope to goodness that I never have to go back and experience totally rebuilding a program from absolutely ground up.

QUESTION: When it comes to the Rose Bowl experience, you touched on that, but what about the opportunity for your West Coast kids like Matt McDonald and Austin Osborne?
LOEFFLER: It’s great for them. I think Matt will be the last one of the McDonalds to play in the Rose Bowl. He’s got two other brothers that played. His dad played in it, obviously. So, I think he's the last McDonald to play. So very excited for both him and Austin.

QUESTION: When you look at this defense, how confident are you with the group you've got going in right now and what’s the overall feeling on the defensive side?
LOEFFLER: They're old, which is good. There's enough youth in there that has talent to mix with our age. We started this thing a little bit different than regular MAC schools. We were gonna try to build the defense, very similar to what [Dave] Clawson did. I think our defensive front will be as competitive as anyone in the MAC. I like our front seven. I think we've got some maturity and some guys that can run in the back end and they gotta play well. Plain and simple. They are an older group of players and we're gonna expect them to do a lot for us.

QUESTION: Can you talk about the offense this year versus last year?
LOEFFLER: I think the difference is Matt's gonna be able to stay upright a heck of a lot more. You look at what that guy went through these last two years, it’s tough to play quarterback with that type of protection. Then you start doing things that are way outside the box and the next thing you know, you've created your own problems. I think we'll be able to protect him much better. We got guys that can score. Finally, there's some guys on the perimeter that are different than we've had here. They can run, they can catch. They're big, they're physical. I can't think of a moment that we catch a five-yard slant and go score and go 70. I can't remember ever doing that here. We've got some guys that can catch the quick touches, catch the quick game. Got guys that can stretch the field and they can catch. So, we're really excited about the guys on the perimeter for sure.

QUESTION: You put PaSean Wimberly on scholarship the other day. What has he done to earn that?
LOEFFLER: I love PaSean. Number one, he's a great student. Two, he’s a great person and he's really been super productive for us. I think he's gonna be a great special teams guy. He's gonna find his way into the offense. He's been through absolute hell these last three years personally. When you put a guy on scholarship and the whole room explodes, he's well-liked and well-respected. Everyone knew in the room we had a scholarship left over and everyone knew in the room that that guy deserved it. It was not even a question. It was cool. It was awesome. It's one of the few cool, cool things left in our great game. The old-school taking care of a walk-on that deserves it. So that was cool.

QUESTION: Matt has gotten a fair share of criticism outside of this building the last couple years, yet you never wavered in your confidence. What is it about him that is allowed you to stay confident in him?
LOEFFLER: I played quarterback before and people that haven't played quarterback before, they don't necessarily get it. There's times that he's going to play this year and he's going to have 400 yards passing and four touchdowns. And I'm gonna say in the meeting room, ‘This isn't good enough. You didn't play well worth a darn.’ And then there's gonna be times that the defense is playing extremely well, and we have to throw the ball away. We have to do this to protect the ball. And the next thing you know, your numbers aren't great, but you find a way to win. People look at that and look at numbers and they go, ‘Why didn't he play very well?’ Well, he actually played damn good. I've been around guys that I know can do it. I've been around guys that I know couldn't do it. We protect him, with the weapons that we have, he stays inside the box, he'll have a great senior year.

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